Week 37: Let the Impatience Begin!

Another week down! The countdown is seriously on these days.

We had our 36 week appointment last week. My stats: The important ones are that we are 75% effaced and almost two centimeters dilated as of last Thursday! It means we are at least making progress! It doesn't technically mean much otherwise, since I could have this little man any time between now and still 5 weeks from now (42 weeks). Other stats are that I am up another 5 pounds in the last 2 weeks. Sad, but not too surprising since I was especially hungry during the last two weeks. I learned that women who are having boys tend to eat more, something related to the fact that teenage boys never stop eating when they are growing. Everything is looking good for me and the little one!

From last Thursday. This is one of my new shirts I had to buy to cover my giant belly

Now for the delightful pregnancy symptoms of the last weeks of pregnancy.

Well the poor sleeping has definitely kicked in. I used to just wake up a lot to pee or roll over but I was still sleeping well in between. Now I can't get comfortable and am not sleeping well due to going through lists of stuff in my head in my dreams.

My hips have not been having a fun time either. Partly I think they are starting to separate out some, and partly now that the baby has his head all up on my nerves in my pelvis, I get shots of pain up and down my nerves on the inside and outsides of my legs. They definitely happen more and more often, so that sucks.

The lovey my mom and I picked out for the little man :)

I am still kind of winning the belly button battle. It is insanely flat, and sometimes the top kind of pokes out a little bit, but it is definitely not a full outtie.

Overall we are pretty well prepared for the baby's arrival. We got the rest of the things we especially needed or wanted off of our registry. Our car seat will arrive on Friday, so at long as he keeps cooking for a little bit longer we will be just fine. The only two things not ready in the nursery are the curtains and the glider. I made a legit attempt at the curtains last week and Dylan mentioned I has not having any luck to his mom, and she will make them when she comes to stay with us. The glider had one piece that had a crack in it and we contacted the company to get a new piece sent, gave them all the information and it has been maybe three weeks now and still no new piece, but I guess Dylan said they got back to him today and it should be here in 10 days.

His crib is ready for him to arrive!

I have the stuff to pack the hospital bag, but still need to throw that together. Getting the stuff for baby is all fine and good, but the stuff for me mostly makes me super not excited about the postpartum recovery. I guess that is why I have a cute baby to distract me.

From Tuesday of week 37

I mostly feel entirely indecisive. I can't decide if I want to just lay on the couch and do nothing or if I want to clean and organize something. I figure that means I am moving closer to labor, but not quite there yet, since I am not full on nesting. Saturday I was up until 1am putting together an Expedit shelf and organizing stuff.

I cannot believe how absolutely giant I feel. And my belly just continues to grow. The body never ceases to amaze. Now my body just needs to safely bring this baby boy into the world, potentially sooner rather than later.

Wish me luck in the days and weeks to come! Hopefully we have more good days than bad :)

Week 36: One Month To Go!

We officially have less than one month until our due date! This is also my last week without an appointment, since things can change quickly in the coming weeks. I am going to be a parent soon! It is actually beneficial to not have stats this week since I have a million other things to blog about. It has been a busy week.

I am definitely inclined to agree that the last weeks of pregnancy just get harder and longer. I have all sorts of fun pregnancy symptoms.

This is from the beginning of Week 36. A lot of belly growing this week!

While the swelling in my feet completely went away, today I felt the need to take my wedding rings off. I have been checking them most days since I was in Nebraska since I had some issues there, and today I couldn't get my rings off without soap and water. So they are now worn as a necklace, at least for today. It is probably safest to just leave them that way. 

My general body feels like it is getting worn out. My hips hurt for at least the first half of every day. So I am pretty funny to watching getting out of my chair, or off the couch...  I have had longer and stronger (but NOT closer together!) braxton hicks contractions. As he is slowly moving down (hopefully!), the little man has been hitting my nerves that go through my groin and outsides of my legs more often. Super delightful. I had to tell my coworker I sit next to that I apologize for any awkward faces I make in her direction.

With my puppies :)

He is definitely getting huge! While he is still a shy mover for others, he has his crazy days. He has had a lot of hiccups recently. He had them at 5:30am the other morning, which was the first time he has actually kept me awake. Not too bad considering it has been 8 months! Dylan got to feel a set of hiccups last night and said that he feels bad for the baby since hiccups suck. I said I don't think it is so bad since they are floating in fluid and it is pretty normal for them. While the movements had been a little slower for a while, they picked up big time the last couple days and he will do a lot of movement for a solid 45 minutes and they are getting stronger. Babies at this age are working on their muscle and fat development, so it makes sense for him to be moving so much. I can't believe how much bigger he seems to be!

Monday of Week 36

My belly is definitely huge, if it gives any indication of his size. I have been holding off on mentioning my stretch marks that started a couple weeks ago, but they are definitely multiplying. Sigh. They were mostly on my love handles, but started on the bottom of my belly now too :( I can tell it is from my belly growing so much since week and a half ago I could wear a lot of my shirts totally fine and then suddenly I had two inches poking out the bottom of everything.

I am definitely getting my butt kicked by this pregnancy at this point.

But it isn't all the time. While I am definitely more tired and have some fun moments per above, I am still doing really well and enjoying being pregnant. I feel like I still have my "glow" and am getting super excited about the growing boy inside me.

Me and my Grandma from my shower this weekend. Yes I wore the same dress for this shower... :)

Now it is just a matter of when he will arrive! If you haven't seen it, I started a betting pool for when baby Otley will arrive here.

My girls and I at my shower.

Dylan and I were chatting about the pros and cons of if he comes sooner or later.

Benefits of coming sooner:

• I get less fat and get less stretch marks
• Less waiting. I'm still working on this whole patience thing.
• Generally a lighter/smaller baby (theoretically easier to deliver)
• More time to adjust to baby before our trip to Montana
• No worries about having him while my mom is on vacation (June 7-13)

Benefits of coming later:

• Fuller term baby, better for health and brain development
• Waiting for the weather to be nicer so I have the real summer weather while on leave
• I won't have to go back to work until after Labor Day, and will have time to get work done before leave
• More time just Dylan and I before our lives change forever
• More time to do final touches and organize.

In the end, he will come when he wants to!

The completed closet! I am so excited about how much better it looks!

I had my second baby shower this weekend, and had so much fun eating delicious food and seeing people I don't get to see that often. We got a lot of really useful stuff! I started organizing it all last night and feel really good about what we have and what we still need to buy.

The current state of the closet. The clothes are sorted by size.

Just an FYI, nesting is not necessarily a good thing. It makes me especially snippy at Dylan since I apparently feel like the house has to be entirely clean all the time. Fortunately he is understanding and he has stepped up and ended up being super productive this last weekend. He installed the closet organization and has been working really hard on yard work too.

All the toys and blankets!

We also had a chance to look at another daycare this week. We liked it a lot, but felt the first one was a better fit for us. We paid our deposit and first week's day care fee on Friday! It really is nice to have a place we feel good about, although when we have to drop him off the first time I know it will be rough.

From the last day of Week 36

Finally, we added a new name to the list! I absolutely love it, even though it bends our "not too popular" rule. I still really like the other names on our list too, so his name still won't get decided until he arrives. It makes me so excited to meet him so we know what he looks like!

Thanks for those of you that stuck with me through this long post! I don't have nearly enough energy to write more than one post a week it seems. Be sure to enter your bet!

Week 35: Baby Shower and Baby Visiting

I almost cannot believe he will be here in technically five weeks! Even crazier that he could be here and considered term in two weeks.

There is so much going on, it is almost hard to fit it all in one post!

I had my 34 week appointment last week so I have a stats update.

My stats: My weight was up just over a pound, which is perfect since the baby is gaining about a half pound a week. I am at 34 pounds gained total, so I will end up just a little bit over the "ideal" 25-35 pounds.  My blood pressure was great and no concerns from the doctor. I got a note for my flight in case they had any questions or concerns at the airport.

I think this was Thursday

Baby stats: His heart rate was 148. We will check me next week to see how everything is coming along, if at all, and will check his positioning at that time. Otherwise he seems like he is doing well. He is still a consistent mover, but it is more stretching and pushing than hard kicks. The weirdest part is the punches down below, such an awkward sensation!

 

My symptoms: Belly button is still in, but getting very flat. I can't decide if I will win or lose that battle. I just started having some swelling in my feet and hands this last weekend in Nebraska. Friday night I had to take off my rings at 3am, and I took them off before bed the next night as well. Since being back in Colorado I haven't had any issues with my hands. Saturday afternoon during and after my baby shower, my feet started swelling. It was definitely due to doing a lot of standing and due to the heat. They stayed really puffy through yesterday, but were close to normal this morning. Now they are swollen but not terrible.

I swear I grew another inch out on Monday!

 

I defnitely decided that I never want to be pregnant in Nebraska during the summer. It was like 83 degrees on Sunday, which sounds nice, but then you add in humidity and being pregnant and it was terrible. I was melting. It was so nice to drive down to Lincoln and have the AC blowing straight on me.

 

Other symptoms include mostly just being tired. I am very ready for work to be done at the end of the day, and no matter my intentions, I just want to lay on the couch all evening. (Which generally works out pretty well to get some blogging done at least!) My heart burn is still around, so evidently the baby hasn't dropped yet. Somehow I feel like I have to pee even more often though, so I am getting the worst of both worlds. The braxton hicks are carrying on about the same.

On to my weekend! I had an amazing time hanging out with all of my family. My mom, sister and I had a great time together. We did some shopping and got pedicures. My sister and I had some time to catch up and be sisters. She is very excited to be an aunt, but I think she is also partly sad about not getting to spend as much time with me and how things will change.

 

My shower was so much fun! It was so great to hang out with my other pregnant cousins. They are both having their second kids, and one is due a week before me and the other is due a month after me.

 

My friend Katie was able to make it too. She is from here in Colorado but living in Iowa, so it was easier for her to go to the shower in Omaha. She came in town a little early so we would actually have some time to catch up.  

 

We ate food and played some games, and then I opened all of my presents. My mom said she had never seen so many baby clothes, especially boy baby clothes! I will definitely need to sort and see what I have of each size after my shower this next weekend. The best part is we were able to fit everthing into the two suitcases I brought and we didn't need to ship anything. The big stuff was shipped directly to our house.

 

On Sunday I went down to Lincoln and I got to spend time with a baby! Dylan's friends had their baby boy a month ago. I figured since I will have a baby of my own soon and it has been awhile since I interacted with a baby, I should probably get some baby time in. It was great to get to chat about their labor and the first couple weeks of parenthood. Plus holding a baby reassured me that I won't be totally clueless about what to do.

The last event of this week was that we ran into someone from our baby child birthing class. Just the dad, but he was so excited he recognized us! He said everything went well and their baby girl was born on April 8th (they were the first to be due in our class).

I just can't believe my life will be changing soon! For the most part I can't even really wrap my head around it. It is going to be such a unique and new experience going through labor and delivery. Then the whole parenting thing will be such an ever changing adventure. We are definitely looking forward to it!